The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being

by Guy Fletcher (Editor)

Overview

The concept of well-being is one of the oldest and most important topics in philosophy and ethics, going back to ancient Greek philosophy. Following the boom in happiness studies in the last few years it has moved to centre stage, grabbing media headlines and the attention of scientists, psychologists and economists. Yet little is actually known about well-being and it is an idea that is often poorly articulated.

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being provides a comprehensive, outstanding guide and reference source to the key topics and debates in this exciting subject.

Comprising over 40 chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into six parts:

• well-being in the history of philosophy
• current theories of well-being, including hedonism and perfectionism
• examples of well-being and its opposites, including friendship and virtue and pain and death
• theoretical issues, such as well-being and value, harm, identity and well-being and children
• well-being in moral and political philosophy
• well-being and related subjects, including law, economics and medicine.

Essential reading for students and researchers in ethics and political philosophy, it is also an invaluable resource for those in related disciplines such as psychology, politics and sociology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138574083
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/13/2017
Series:	Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy
Pages:	548
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Guy Fletcher is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His current research is in metaethics, on moral language and moral psychology. Another strand of research is in political philosophy, on hate speech. He also has a persistent side-interest in John Stuart Mill. He is the author of The Philosophy of Well-Being: An Introduction (Routledge, 2016).

Table of Contents

Introduction Guy Fletcher

Part 1: Well-Being in the History of Moral Philosophy

1. Plato Eric Brown

2. Aristotle on Well-Being Richard Kraut

3. Hedonistic Theories of Well Being in Antiquity Tim O’Keefe

4. Well-Being and Confucianism Richard Kim

5. Well-Being and Daoism Justin Tiwald

6. Well-Being in the Buddhist tradition Christopher Gowans

7. Well-Being in the Christian tradition William Lauinger

8. The Later British Moralists Robert Shaver

Part 2: Theories of Well-Being

9. Hedonism Alex Gregory

10. Perfectionism Gwen Bradford

11. Desire-Fulfilment theory Chris Heathwood

12. Objective List Theory Guy Fletcher

13. Hybrid Theories Chris Woodard

14. Subject-Sensitive theories Alicia Hall and Valerie Tiberius

15. Eudaimonism Lorraine Besser-Jones

Part 3: Particular Goods and Bads

16. Pleasure Ben Bramble

17. Pain Guy Kahane

18. Health, Disability, and Well-Being Drew Schroeder

19. Friendship Diane Jeske

20. Virtue Anne Baril

21. Epistemic Goods Allan Hazlett

22. Achievements Gwen Bradford and Simon Keller

23. Meaningfulness Antti Kauppinen

24. Needs Marco Grix and Philip McKibbin

25. Happiness Neera Badhwar

26. Death Ben Bradley

Part 4: Theoretical Issues

27. Monism and Pluralism Eden Lin

28. Atomism and Holism in the Theory of Personal Well-Being Jason Raibley

29. The Experience Machine and the Experience Requirement Jennifer Hawkins

30. Children’s Well-being A Philosophical Analysis Anthony Skelton

31. Well-Being and Animals Christopher Rice

32. The Science of Well-Being Anna Alexandrova

33. The Concept of Well-Being Steve Campbell

Part 5: Well-Being in Moral and Political Philosophy

34. Welfarism Dale Dorsey

35. Well-Being and the Non-Identity Problem Molly Gardner

36. Well-Being, Paternalism, Autonomy Sarah Conly

37. Well-Being and Disadvantage Jonathan Wolff and Doug Reeve

38. Feminism and Well-Being Jules Holroyd

Part 6: Well-being and other disciplines

39. Well-Being and Law Alex Sarch

40. Well-Being and Economics Erik Angner

41. Medicine and Well-Being Daniel Groll.

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Without rival or even comparison in the literature, this is the definitive collection of contemporary philosophical perspectives on well-being. It is of use to students and scholars not merely of value theory, but also psychology, economics, politics, and medicine. These and still more fields have been made better off by the expert contributions to this Handbook." - Thaddeus Metz, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

"The question of what makes our lives good or bad for us is obviously of huge importance. Philosophers have much to contribute to answering that question, as this volume shows. The authors are excellent philosophers, and many have made significant contributions to the literature on well-being. This book will become the starting-point for future philosophical research on well-being." - Roger Crisp, University of Oxford, UK

From the Publisher